Conventional ice skates have been restricted to using various types of metal blades such as Sheffield steel blades. The different types of ice skates such as hockey, figure and speed require specific shapes and dimensions for the blades.
In-line roller skates such as Roller Blades.RTM. have been developed in the past several years that allow the roller skater greater dexterity, balance and speed than traditional parallel wheel roller skates. However, the composition or rubber type wheels on both parallel wheel roller skates and in-line wheel roller skates as such are not adaptable for use on frozen ice surfaces. In-line metal wheels have been patented, but they are not applicable for hockey, figure and speed ice skate use. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,746 to Nagin; U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,390 to Cote; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,689,091 to Nagin.
Prior art convertible skates have been patented to allow a skater to remove wheels and substitute blades and vice-versa depending upon use. However, these prior art devices specifically restrict the wheels for use on synthetic plastic/cement surfaces while the blades are to be used on frozen ice surfaces. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,259 to Bourdreau; U.S. Pat. No. 4,492,385 to Olsen; U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,937 to Linn, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,663 to Soo; U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,827 to Olsen; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,366 to Shing.
None of the prior art adapts roller skate wheels for use on frozen ice surfaces.